2023-02-22: The Glow of Courage and Trust
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Seolla Schweizer
- Where: Jindai High School
- Date: U.C. 0097 02 22
- Summary: In a conversation over lunch, Alouette and Seolla get to know each other better. They find they have a lot more in common than they realised, even in painful ways... but nonetheless they agree to trust each other as friends.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
At Jindai High School, it is a normal day, thankfully for real this time, with absolutely no explosions or kidnappings. Alouette is present today, wearing her uniform modified for extra frills and a large blue ribbon tied to the back.
When the lunch bell rings, Alouette decides there's someone she'd like to chat to during the break -- and so she works up her indomitable courage to approach one Seolla Schweizer and strike up a conversation!
"/Bonjour, Miss Schweizer -- do you have anyone to sit with on lunch today? I don't, so.." She starts, as the usual noise of chatter that comes with lunch time begins.
"Besides.. we started a little on the wrong foot, right? And it's not like the other day gave us much chance to remedy that." She laughs a little bit with the latter statement. "It's nothing serious.. but we can take the rooftop if you'd like somewhere more private." Alouette suggests, and she usually prefers getting a little bit of air during break, anyways. And if Seolla accepts, Alouette immediately makes her way towards the rooftop to stake her claim for the area.. although she doesn't doubt Seolla would be able to keep up with her.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The murmurings at Jindai around the recent transfer of Seolla are...probably a mild factor in the need to bolster resolve to talk to her. There's a reputation of being difficult to approach! After all, when people get too close - there's her tendency to get worked up, flustered, and somewhat shouty and huffy at people, which - - if you're a totally normal person, that'll push you away! It's something she's still working through. Can it even be worked through? The tsun does not leave easily...
Of course, Alouette isn't exactly unfamiliar! That face is fairly well etched into her mind by now from that meeting in Tsutsujidai. And she helped out the other day resolving Sousuke's shenanigan! The light and breezy 'bonjour' does rise a light little warmth in her cheeks - on some level she doesn't feel like she's exactly...'done right' by Alouette, and maybe owes her a bit. Is that what makes her a little less guarded at Seolla's offer?
"Y-yeah, sure, I can go up there with you. Dunno if there's many chairs on the rooftop, didn't see them when I scoped out the place, but maybe I overlooked something-" And indeed, she's in well enough spirit and condition to not fall too far behind Alouette. Her own uniform is a surprisingly stylish combo of the deep blue skirt and black buttoned up shirt - Seolla having rolled up her sleeved just a little bit. All finished off with a puffy pink ribbon, and a silver choker and bracelets.
The wind kicks up atop the roof, and Seolla holds the back of her head, staring skywards into the blue, at a baleful single cloud drifting along, lost in thought for a moment as she slowly unpacks her lunch - a rather lavishly adorned, patently overflowing sandwich. "...Y-you know, it kinda feels weird for us to be in the same class...aren't you some sorta prodigy? Meanwhile I'm mostly doing...remedial stuff, since I never...uh...went to a real school, so I don't know a lot of the basics..."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
If nothing else, Alouette is used to "hard to approach" - she once had a perpetually cold glare for most people, completely contrary to the more relaxed and mature atmosphere she has now. And she was even able to break through the walls of the ever-taciturn Ikumi! She is a little worried about bothering Seolla at a bad time, though...
Which thankfully doesn't seem to be the case as Seolla accepts her invitation. "...Oh, is there not? They always seem to in shows, but maybe I shouldn't assume the same of real life after all.." Clearly her actual high school experience is limited. "But I'm sure we'll find somewhere to sit if we're fast!"
As they walk, Alouette looks behind her for a moment.. Seolla's uniform always caught her eye a little. "Your uniform looks really nice by the way.. I haven't seen anyone else wear it quite like that." She notes that technically, that's the "boy's shirt".. but it doesn't mean that it looks bad on a girl. "And a ribbon is never a bad touch." Between her outfit and her hairband, Alouette is swimming in ribbons for one.
It turns out that Alouette didn't make the wrong choice picking the rooftop with weather like this. She lets the breeze flow through her carefully styled curls, and takes out her own lunch.. just a generic CalorieMark bar. Without Hana constantly by her side, it can be all too easy to fall into the habit of quick, bland and nutritious over actually tasty.. which Seolla's sandwich looks like.
"...A lot of people call me that. And you would be right that I don't exactly attend for learning, but..." She stares wistfully at that one lone cloud. "I don't really know many people my age." She admits. "The 'schools' I've been to were nothing like this, so you're not the only one who feels a little lost." And even when she was placed under protection of Chasseur, it was decided it was safer to be homeschooled. "Still, exams are coming up sooner than later.. that's not easy on you." She looks back sympathetically. "So if you need my help.. it's okay to just ask." Alouette assures, smiling.
And then her expression turns a little more grim.. there's something else she couldn't take off her mind when she saw Seolla. "Say.. were you able to resolve things with Akane?" She asks, quietly. She can put two and two together that Seolla seems to have a new mission of 'protecting' Chidori, and Akane is decidedly not dead - but it was the major sore point of their first interaction. She knows deep down that's something they have to clear up, too.
"...It's not that I'm upset with you about it." She clarifies. "But it did have me worried for both your sakes."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The massiveness of Seolla's lunch might make one think she intends to pick at it slowly and carefully, maybe it's even two lunches! -One big bite later, and it's clear that...no, it won't be an incident like that. It's not that she's very ravenous at it...it's just that the sandwich seems to simply disappear at a nearly imperceptibly fast rate. Before she even speaks up again, half of it is already downed nearly noiselessly, despite how it appears to merely be nibbled at.
...She's quiet for a bit, because Alouette...reminds her of plenty. It's a little bit painful to really think too much, but she does, eventually, speak up, "...s-same. ...the place I was at...was kinda...called 'The School' but...nn. I still have really bad memory problems from what was going on there. I can read and write, because I needed to do that for military stuff, and some specific technical things are familiar, but other than that...nn, so you were part of something like that too."
Lips worrying together, Seolla can't stop thinking of that first meeting. The way Alouette's hand tried to plunge through the darkness. At the time, Seolla thought a girl like this, so bright and warm, couldn't understand. It's a little heartbreaking to find out that she understood all too well.
...she has to make it right.
Suddenly, boldly, Seolla's marching towards Alouette at a maybe slightly alarming pace, a fierce look in her eyes. But it's all in the service of one indomitable goal-
Her hands dart out and clasp Alouette's between her own. An acceptance of that gesture she rejected two-fold. As though fortuitously timed by the heavens, a gust of wind picks up the moment she holds on, though her shorter hair means no wind would ever obscure the sky blue of her intense stare.
"...I'm sorry I rejected your help back then."
Eyes slowly closing, Seolla does emit a little nod about the subject of Akane. "...I actually took a trip to France, and Akane and Rikka were there, and I bumped into her near one of the train stations. ...it was super duper awkward at first, now that I think about it. I was kinda...worked up, and she was getting worn down by that, but once we settled down, we...got along pretty well, I think. ...I didn't want to do anything bad to her, of course! ...it's weird. The exact reason I was sent there to do that was maybe a reason I'm kinda grateful to her."
"...if I'd gone through with it I...don't think I'd have ever gotten over it."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Crumpling up her CalorieMark wrapper and stashing it away until she can throw it out, Alouette looks intently on Seolla, as she explains her story. 'The School'.. it managed to make something so innocuous sound ominous somehow. "...Awful. It's awful what people think is okay to do to children like us." She shakes her head, her gaze a little intense, but still sympathetic.
"As for me, I was misfortunate enough to be born in a hospital run by BioNet. In short, they wanted to train a genetically modified supergenius to destroy the Gutsy Galaxy Guard for good." She skips through a lot of the finer details, just as Seolla undoubtedly did recounting 'The School'. "3G saved me, but I lost my memories protecting someone I love. That's.. part of why I was so determined to help you." She admits. "I know what it's like to forget." After she says that, she gazes back into the deep blue sky, watching the lone cloud.. as if that very cloud was the J-Ark with Mikoto inside.
She's brought back to reality, as Seolla mirrors her gesture before, boldly extending a hand forward no matter what. The gust of wind blows her curls back, and she's left looking a little shocked for a moment - before her eyes turn determined in their own right and her hands clasp into Seolla's.
"Apology accepted.. although you didn't need to in the first place." Alouette smiles. "It wouldn't be very brave to give up hope after the first try." She decides on. It's not the first time she refused to give up helping someone who needed it.
Alouette nods in turn about Akane. "Excellent date outing choice on their part," Alouette asides to herself with a smirk, before listening to Seolla about her awkward conversation with Akane. "I'm glad it turned out that way - it's hard not to start off awkward sometimes." Alouette points out. Her own first conversation with Akane wasn't so bad, but she confesses she had no idea what she was going on about with the kaiju talk at the time.
"The exact reason.. you mean about Miss Nagisa right?" Alouette cups a finger on her chin. "...It's still a little hard for me to feel okay with what Akane did. But I could tell she really cared about her, yes." She'll never forget how scared Akane was - and how she made the right choice to call in Dr. Mass.
"...You're probably right," Alouette agrees with Seolla's last statement, although not without her warmth. "But you didn't. And that's why you're able to get along with her now. And it's why you were able to reach your hand out just then." She continues, resolutely. "And I'm really glad - because the world could use your glow, too."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
...she knows what it's like to forget.
hat alone is enough to start bringing out the waterworks for Seolla, tears pooling up at the bottom of her eyes, leaking onto her cheeks as much as she tries to keep it together. There's a lot where that came from. "...Y...you...I wonder if I'd be able...to do the same in your shoes. The people important to me are my whole world, and it's agonizing to know they're still..."
Seolla bites the inside of her cheek. Dr. Goldberry informed her it's a bad habit to think too intensely about Ouka and Arado all the time - that it'll only get in the way of getting in strong enough condition to help them. But can she really help it?
"...my glow...I...that's quite a brave type of thing for you to say about someone like me, you know!" Seolla's cheeks have gone red, but there's definitely an evasiveness in her gaze. Her hands clutch Alouette's tighter, maybe a little painfully - her palms somewhat rough and calloused. "I'm not really someone who shines that brightly, not anywhere near like you can. ...I made it this far mostly because I was...a good fit for what they wanted to do with me. I could run in there and fight and shoot and fly since I was half this height. If I was as bright as Ouka, who could keep us warm even though she has so much to deal with...if I was as bright as Arado, who'd walk out of a plane crash with that doofy smile of his and keep marching onward, I'd be closer to your level. ...I'm still not sure I'm hanging in there up to this point for anything more than their sake."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
As Seolla begins to tear up, the most Alouette can do is keep her hands latched onto hers, remind her that she doesn't have to cry about it alone. "...It really must be. In situations like that, missing them really never goes away.. it just turns into background noise. The most I can do to keep going is to turn that white noise into courage.." But Seolla.. Seolla doesn't think she has that type of courage in her.
Alouette grins a little at Seolla's tsun-tsun blush at calling her glowing, and then goes on to seriously explain. "Someone else important to me said that everyone has the ability to glow like that, that courage is something that comes naturally to us all - we only have to find it." Yes, it's easy to attribute courage to only belonging to heroes like Guy, but in truth it's everyone's courage that holds them together through the worst situations. "But before courage comes trust. You'll need to trust Ouka and Arado, that they'll be waiting for you. Dr. Mass and her associates, to take care of you. And everyone else you've connected to since we left Tsutsujidai." Her own hands remain soft and unmoving, even as Seolla grips tighter.
"...If you think you're weak right now, that's okay. Even if you're not shining that brightly yet, the fact that there's a light at all means that one day I think it will be brilliant." She looks into Seolla's deep blue, wavering eyes. "It just takes the flames of others to nurture it." She tries to put that metaphor all together succinctly.
The feeling of only hanging in there for a select few people.. that's a familiar one, too - it's a feeling so intimate she's not sure to how to challenge it for herself, except... "You don't need to figure it out right away. Just.. keep reaching forward as you are now. And remember you're not the only one trying to save them."
She takes a slow, deep breath. "Ahh, I said it wouldn't be anything serious, but I'm glad we could talk honestly about this. And... thanks by starting with trusting me." Her smile forms again, as she makes one final offer. "Friends?"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The urge to fall head-first into the overwhelming support feels almost dangerous to Seolla. Like she's tripping and plummeting. It's easy to be wary about it all, isn't it?
But...so many people have promised her. Offered their own light of wisdom. It's not even that she was never alone to begin with - it's that the ones she's relied on for so long, even at their last moment - did what they could for her. Arado's sneaky little wish for her to do this on her own terms - to get out of this while she still could.
And every last person she's met since then...
"...there's one thing you're wrong about, Alouette," Seolla begins-
Before a little smile crosses her cheeks. "...I...haven't started with trusting you. You're one of many people I'm starting to believe in." One hand finally withdraws, to carefully wipe at her own eyes - followed by a needy gulp from her water thermos, icy cold even in the winter...then a big, subtle-inhale of her sandwich. Down to 25% in the blink of an eye. "...yeah. Of course. When I was at my worst, when I was maybe a genuine threat to someone you cared about, you still reached out for me. ...if there's anyone to make sure I hold onto, it's you, Alouette."
The smile on her lips brightens enough to drown out the vivid blue of the sky.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Seolla interjects saying Alouette's wrong about one thing, which leads her to momentarily lift an eyebrow... but what she hears is something she'll happily be proven wrong on. "I'm glad to hear it, Seolla." She subtly switches to the first name herself. "And I know every single one of them treasures that trust."
"I'll have to make sure I don't let go then," Alouette nods at Seolla's assertion with a smile. "Holding onto promises.. a Brave can do no less."
They've been chatting for a while, so Alouette quickly taps open her phone to look at the time. "Oh! We should probably head back to class soon.. it would suck for both of us to get an absentee reputation," she laughs. "And, if you need to look over my notes for physics or anything really, you're welcome to." Sometimes promises and friendship are simple as that.